# Improving Access to Multidisciplinary Care for patients with long COVID

> **NIH AHRQ U18** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2024 · $999,195

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The proposed project seeks to expand the existing UW multidisciplinary long COVID clinic (the Post COVID
Rehabilitation and Recovery clinic) to improve access and coordination of care for patients with long COVID.
This project will allow the team to improve care delivery for all patients, but will emphasize improving access to
multidisciplinary care for underserved patients including patients in rural communities, Alaska, and in Latinx,
Native American, and SE Asian communities. With additional funding, we will make an enormous impact on a
large region throughout WWAMI, focusing initially on Washington and Alaska, and Idaho, Montana, Wyoming
in the later years. The aims of this proposed project include Aim 1: Improve clinical care delivery and
expand access to the UW PCRRC. The goal of this aim is to improve access and care delivery for patients
from Washington and Alaska that are referred to the Post-COVID Rehabilitation and Recovery clinic. The key
areas that we will be expanding in this project include: 1) coordination of care; 2) behavioral health support; 3)
vocational services; and 4) electronic consults. Aim 2: Engage underserved communities to enhance long
COVID education and connection to local resources. The overall goal of our community engagement
activities will be to foster authentic longitudinal relationships, promote ongoing collaborations and address the
needs of community members. We will accomplish this by: 1) forming a community advisory board to guide our
engagement activities; 2) producing publicly accessible educational webinars (community conversations)
addressing COVID and long COVID; 3) producing culturally responsive patient education materials on long
COVID in English, Spanish, and SE Asian languages; and 4) participating in community events including town
hall meetings, community health fairs, pop-up vaccination events to share information about the UW long
COVID clinic and long COVID. Aim 3: Improve patient access in the WWAMI region by training a network
of clinicians specializing in long COVID care. In this aim, we will provide ongoing education and support to
community PCPs, psychologists, and physical therapists with a focus on providers in under-resourced areas
across the WWAMI region, including rural areas. We will accomplish this by: 1) In partnership with the
Washington State DOH, we will create an advanced training certificate program for long COVID. 2) We will
conduct monthly interactive case-based webinars. 3) We will also identify local physician and physical therapy
leads who can be trained to be local experts in the care of patients with long COVID and are a part of our
extended UW PCRRC network. 4) We will hold weekly virtual office hours that are pre-specified with a
scheduling system to allow community providers to discuss cases and ask questions that will help them with
their own management of patients with long COVID.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10932374
- **Project number:** 5U18HS029905-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Jessica Anne Bender
- **Activity code:** U18 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** AHRQ
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $999,195
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-30 → 2028-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10932374

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10932374, Improving Access to Multidisciplinary Care for patients with long COVID (5U18HS029905-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10932374. Licensed CC0.

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